Chef Chat

Author/cook Georgia Pellegrini has a sense of adventure

Ashley Jo Green

Georgia Pellegrini

Foraging and fishing were part of Georgia Pellegrini's idyllic childhood in upstate New York, where she grew up on the same land where her great-grandfather lived.

After a short stint in investment banking, she stepped off the corporate path and got cooking. One simple meeting with a turkey, and she was forever changed. If she was going to cook it, she could hunt it and clean it.

Connecting food to where it comes from is a lesson she wants everyone to learn. Embracing the pioneering spirit, she touts economy and a self-sufficient approach to all things, from foraging and hunting to pickling and preserving.

Her second book, "Girl Hunter" (Da Capo, 2013), chronicles her adventures learning to hunt. (Her first book was "Food Heroes" (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2010). Touting a return to conscious living, her third book is all about self-sufficiency and life skills. "Modern Pioneering: More than 150 Recipes, Projects, and Skills for A Self-Sufficient Life" ($24, Clarkson Potter) arrives in stores this week. It runs the gamut from using edible flowers to changing a tire. Recipes include jerky, pickles and sauerkraut, homemade lip balm and apple butter, even how to make a watermelon keg (a feat that graces the cover).

Pellegrini, 33, lives in Austin, Texas. Join her signature Adventure Getaway Weekend for women including pheasant hunting, trap shooting, fishing, hiking and cooking classes April 3 to 6 at Destination Kohler and The American Club. For information, call (800) 344-2838 or visit americanclubresort.com.

Q. What set you on the path to cooking?

A. I grew up on the same land that my great-grandfather lived on. I grew up fishing trout and having it for breakfast, honeybees and chickens, having a deep appreciation for getting dirt under my fingernails and all that.

I was fortunate that I did have that upbringing. Then I went to college and did a little bit of corporate stuff, but ultimately I was still craving something lasting and tangible, getting back to my roots, rather than the glow of a computer screen late at night.

I took a leap of faith and decided that food and cooking were the things that always make me happiest. Ultimately, when you're cooking for people, your real job is to bring people happiness and pleasure. I decided to enroll in culinary school, and that was a huge jump from where I was working prior to that, at Lehman Brothers. But it felt natural to me.

I started slaving away in kitchens. I worked at two restaurants in New York and a restaurant in the south of France. Even though I was working as many hours and making far less money, it didn't feel like work to me. That's how I knew it was right.

Q. Do you remember the first recipe that made you want to be a chef?

A. I have a woman who was a surrogate grandmother. Every Sunday she still has these long dinners. Every day, from the time I was in preschool, she'd pick me up and feed me pastina, an Italian porridge of tiny stars with butter, or broccoli with cheese. Those were the two things every day — I'd get to choose which I wanted. It sort of set the tempo to my life and gave me this love for food and how even the simplest ingredients can nourish the soul and bring joy. If my job can just be to make people happy and bring them joy and break bread around the table, that's what I want to do.

Q. How did this new book come to focus on food and life skills?

A. As a chef, I decided I wanted to have a hands-on approach to my ingredients. Part of that was learning to hunt more and growing my own ingredients as I did when I was a kid. I was very close to my grandmother; she's still alive. My great-aunt knew the name of every plant on our land. My last book, "Girl Hunter," was really about my journey hunting and that experience.

"Modern Pioneering" is about what I call manual literacy. I realized I have a college degree, but I don't know how to fix my own toilet. Not everyone is going to have a bunch of land to hunt on and fish, but there are even small ways even when crunched for time and space that we can experience things viscerally. There are small ways to be more thrifty or economical in the kitchen.

Q. Much of this is common sense for previous generations. What is so appealing to today's audiences?

A. It's about rolling up your sleeves and becoming more manually literate. We're all so educated, but we've lost something.

It is sort of a pendulum swing happening. Our grandparents' generation definitely got some things right. Trying economic times are a great equalizer. People want to know how to go to their backyard and get dinner. There is something very romantic about that, but also something very practical.

Q. You're coming to Kohler for a weekend of hunting and cooking. How did you start organizing these adventures?

A. Purely by accident. I hosted one for a bunch of food writers when my last book came out. I got so many emails from people around the country asking when my next one was.... People want to feel some sense of adventure and didn't know how to get there. I hosted another one. It sold out.

For me it has always been a finding a venue where women can be comfortable exploring. I've noticed how men do it and I understand why women want to come with me. Women want different things. They want to be able to take a shower or bath at the end of the day.

I picked venues that have the activities from fishing to hunting and facilities where I can teach them to cook something delicious and clean the animals in an environment that is beautiful.... Kohler is this perfect playground for outdoor adventure, and if you want to get a spa treatment, you can. We're going to be pheasant hunting.

Q. Does everyone bring home game from the hunt?

A. Yeah, they can if they want. It is an option. I've seen most women relish the opportunity to take it home and feed their family.

Q. What makes people most squeamish?

A. I think just the transition from life to death. Women are such nurturers and they lead with their hearts. So to kill an animal is hard, but then to realize it is a healthier way to feed my family than having it go through a feedlot, and eviscerating it and clean it, and realizing this is what has to happen for the food to get to my plate.... This is an important moment and they respect it.

A. I'm the girl everyone calls when they want someone to cook something weird. My philosophy is I will try anything at least once. Most things can be made to taste delicious, with an understanding that it is different than the chicken, beef and pork that you can get in the grocery. We're so used to those because they are all fed the same corn and they all have the same marbling. Wild animals get a bad rap because people don't know how to cook them.

Q. What's your best tip for foraging?

A. There is hard-core foraging, which is hard because there is a lot of knowledge. Then there is the awareness there are weeds out there you can eat. For example, purslane has a great amount of omega 3 and it grows in the New York City sidewalk cracks. It is actually delicious. Dandelion greens are another thing that is everywhere. I make dandelion wine. I want people to find ways they can go to their backyard and get a small salad going.